Le Bon Marché

All over the world there are a handful of truly great department stores, but Paris has several that meet this description. One of the most interesting is Le Bon Marché. Translated, this is colloquial for "a bargain," or a good buy. Of course, that may be its name, but it is wrong, wrong, wrong.  This is not an inexpensive store.  Any resemblance to Target or K-Mart is not purely co-incedental, it is totally wrong.

Le Bon Marché

We went to Le Bon Marché the other day to do some food shopping.  In addition to all of the other accoutrements that one associates with a grand magasin Le Bon Marché can easily seduce anyone interested in food with La Grande Epicerie de Paris.  This is a food hall which is certainly as good, if not better than that you would find at Selfridges in London or David Jones in Sydney.  More to the point, however, it is clearly a cut above Monoprix where we do most of our "grocery store" type of food shopping. Below are some views from La Grande Epicerie.

At La Grande Epicerie, the aisles are wide, the food is beautifully presented.  There are cheese stands, bakeries, specialty areas and the best and most perfect vegetables, poultry and meats.  There are people to assist and checkouts which move quickly and efficiently (or at least quickly and efficiently for Paris which is a whole different standard from that of the United States or Australia).

Monoprix, on the other hand, involves continuously fighting your way around and through staff stacking the shelves, pushing and shoving your way through patrons who all seem to be in the greatest possible hurry - at least until they get to the checkout. Even on a Saturday morning, which must be their busiest time, they seem to have an inordinate number of staff stacking the shelves and blocking the aisles.

Monoprix, Outside and Inside

At La Grande Epicerie in one section we saw a sign which said "veuillez patientier ici" which is a very polite way of saying "please wait here." In Monoprix the sign says "attendez ici" or "wait here."  Well, all we can say is "vive la difference." But Monoprix is our equivalent of Coles or Woolies.